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What drill were you using? Were the lazer blades made in sweeden or china? Huge difference and may have been ypur issue. The m18 is brushless so there is not really much to burn up. My guess is you were using some cheap drill as you are the only one I have heard of that fried one batteries yet alone 3. Warranty should cover the handle if it was a Milwaukee. Can't speak for others but I used mine for construction projects where it more than paid for itself twice already. Any years from here on out are just gravy. Every one year with a drill is like 4 years with power auger that can be used 3 months a year in IN. After 4 full years of using the drill year round it may be time to get a new one just like it would be after 16 ice seasons at 3 months each for your gas auger. Maybe if you buy a gas auger you can buy a earth bit and do a side biz of putting in fence posts so you can use it the other 9 months. (Joking)
my 6" laser has the china blades and it cuts ice like butter. Stinky's synthetic does not cut quite as good. We can not figure out why as the synthetic on paper should out cut the regular china made Laser but it does not...Bricker confirmed it as well. It even cuts better then my 5" Laser with new sweedish blades. I am thinking it has something to do with blade pitch and maybe there is a quality control issue on the angle where the blade mounts are welded up? I also wonder if you can(overtime) alter the blade pitch by yanking the auger out of a old hole that has been opened up, effectively changing the blade angle for the worse?
Neither of my lazers perform worth a crap with China blades. I think it does have to do with pitch and angles on both the blade mounts and angle of the blades themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if it is a QC issue as you said. If it is off by a 100th of an inch it could make a difference in how they cut. I check my bolts ALOT too. They can and do come loose. If you think about how fine an edge is on those blades, they for sure can be damaged by yanking them out of holes where they catch or by dropping they blade end on the ice before drilling. I see guys every year slam their Mora or lazer onto the ice somehow thinking that is how you start a hole. No coincidence, their augers cut like crap once they start drilling.
Most likely the angle pitch as you stated.The guy that sharpens my blades always leaves a slip sheet in the package with information for shimming the blades as the angle can get off slightly over time. Basically it is a thin piece of aluminum from a beer can.
Does anyone read the previous comments If you did you would see that I already recommended Jim from pto and his disc attachment.
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Topic: Power auger (Read 5497 times)
